Leonardo da Vinci designed an armored tank with sloped plates and room for several soldiers.
His fighting vehicle appeared in a drawing from around 1487–1490. The machine had a conical, turtle-like armored shell and was intended to move across a battlefield while protecting its crew. Small guns were arranged around the perimeter so soldiers inside could fire in different directions.
The vehicle was powered by people turning internal cranks connected to wheels. Its armor was sloped, a feature that could help deflect incoming projectiles. Some reconstructions have suggested that the original gearing would make the vehicle difficult or impossible to drive, although this may reflect a deliberate alteration or an error in the surviving drawing.
Leonardo’s vehicle was not a modern tank and was never known to have entered military service. Modern historians usually describe it as a conceptual armored fighting vehicle. Its importance lies in combining protection, mobility, and multiple weapons in one design centuries before tanks appeared in World War I.